THE FISHES OF NEW JERSEY. 357 
temporal short, simple, forks obliterated, bone grown solidly to 
skull and with no foramen. Vertebree reduced, 17. Dorsal fins 
2, anterior of II or III spines, first highest, very strong, second 
locking it in erection. Second dorsal remote from first, of many 
soft rays. Caudal rounded or forked. Ventrals wanting, their 
place occupied by a single stout thick spine at end of very long 
usually movable pubic bone. 
Shore-fishes. of the tropical seas of rather large size, carniv- 
orous or partly herbivorous, and very rarely used as food for 
many are reputed poisonous. One species on our shores. 
Genus BatistEs Linnzeus. 
The Trigger Fishes. 
Balistes carolinensis Gmelin. 
PLATE 74. 
Trigger Fish. File Fish. 
Gill-opening with a number of enlarged bony plates or scutes 
posteriorly, teeth unequal, oblique and each one deeply notched. 
Dorsal and anal falcate in adult. Caudal peduncle unarmed. 
A tropical species occasionally on our coast. 
Balistes carolinensis Moore, Bull. U. S. F. Com., XII, 1892, 
p. 363. . 
Capriscus fuliginosus Abbott, Geol. N. J., 1868, p. 826. 
Family MONACANTHID. 
The File Fishes. 
Body much compressed. Upper jaw with a double series of 
incisor-like teeth, 6 in outer and 4 in inner series. Lower jaw 
with 6 similar teeth in a single series. No barbel. Vertebre 
7+ 11 to 14=18 to 21. Body covered with very small rough 
scales forming a velvety covering. Males sometimes with spines 
on caudal peduncle. First dorsal with a single strong spine and 
generally a rudimentary one behind it. Second dorsal long, 
